Monday, December 27, 2010

As I usually do, I was recently reading the various posts at several other blogs around the blogosphere. What caught my attention the most was something written, in reference to the failure of Congress to pass the Dream Act, by Joe Vilson at thejosevilson.com, he wrote:

"They can cook up your favorite soup or prepare your sushi, but their children can’t sit in the same seats that your children can in school. They can make the parts of your favorite electronics and slice up your cured meats, but they can’t serve next to your brethren in war. They can build the penthouse in that trendy neighborhood you’re about to move into and clean up the chambers of the Congress you’ve been selected / elected to serve in for the next few years of your life, but they can’t have the same opportunity for uplift in their community as in your community. Because their intellect is different than yours; it’s more … foreign."

Of course, given the content within this blog, I began to think about Puerto Ricans in the same light. The ignorance of many and how they lump Latinos as all the same is, unfortunately, something shared by far too many within Congressional chambers.

Earlier this year, during a debate, republican candidate Vaughn Ward (R-Idaho) was answering a question in reference to support of Puerto Rico statehood, "The problem with extending statehood to some, to any other country, is that then, the infrastructure requirements ...." at which, his opponent, Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), corrected him with, " Puerto Rico's not a country. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. It's about time that we take some civics lesson and we learned what Puerto Rico is." Bravo! Now, the response by Ward did not surprise me. If you clicked on his name then you know that Ward didn't win. That does leave me to wonder....how many like him have made it to Congress?
His response, "I really don’t care what it is. It doesn't matter."

If it's all just the same, then when referring to Latinos, it would be, " I really don't care what they are. It doesn't matter."

Then came the news that NYC council member Dan Halloran, in an email exchange begun by council member Melissa Mark-Viverito ((D-East Harlem)to her colleagues, had stated, "This terrorist, like all terrorists, should rot in jail forever...I guess the 9-11 bombers could make the same argument. They were merely responding to the 'evils' of the U.S. Will you be asking for them to be pardoned too?" The email exchange was in reference to Mark-Viverito's support of Oscar Lopez-Rivera's upcoming parole hearing. Lopez-Rivera, whom has spent 29 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy, was never charged with causing harm or the taking of a life. A comparison to the 9-11 terrorists?...c'mon, we all know, too well, the atrocious acts committed by them. In this day and age, when convicted murderers and rapists can serve much lesser terms, we find a man, who has paid the price for loving a 'nation' which he feels has been wronged, serving a sentence of 70 plus years.

Personally, I don't condone violence but neither do I agree with the sentence imposed on Lopez-Rivera. Halloran's statement therefore borders on an ignorance and lack of understanding in regards to the Puerto Rico colonial dilemma. History speaks for itself when those who choose to learn about it listen carefully. Maybe, Halloran needs to begin here, with George Washington. Hoorah!!